The solar energy industry is exploding with new technologies, including “solar paint”

Solar power has come a long way from when Bell Labs presented the first photovoltaic cell in 1954. Researchers are brainstorming all kinds of ways to improve the collection of solar energy, reported Green America.

For example, Los Angeles-based startup Sunflare has developed solar panels that are incredibly thin, flexible, and light. They replaced the traditional silicon and glass with new materials to create a semiconductor so thin that you’d need a microscope.

Super-thin solar panels can be installed almost anywhere using a special adhesive, which is good news for owners of commercial buildings who don’t want to drill holes in their roofs. Their flexibility allows them to be placed on curving surfaces as well as flat roofs.